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  • Article
    27 Mai 1997

    In elections held in April 1997, a joint list of socialist and communist
    trade unionists narrowly won control of Portugal's South and Islands Banking
    Union (Sindicato dos Bancários do Sul e Ilhas, SBSI), which will continue to
    be affiliated to the General Workers' Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores,
    UGT).

  • Article
    27 Mai 1997

    "Negotiate a reduction of working time - or else public opinion will force
    through legislation". That was the message in an article written jointly by
    Prime MinisterGöran Persson and the chair of the Swedish Metal Workers'
    Union, Göran Johnsson, and published in the evening paper /Aftonbladet/ on
    28 April 1997. Considering that one of the authors is the Prime Minister of
    Sweden, it could be seen as a veiled threat to the employers. In the 1997
    bargaining round, several trade unions called for a cut in working hours, and
    the employers consistently rejected them.

  • Article
    27 Mai 1997

    The hard core of the strike threat are 10,000 civil servants in internal
    revenue collection and in the customs service. They have two complaints:

  • Article
    27 Mai 1997

    The first of the two recently-announced mergers, which is to take effect from
    1 July 1997, is between the National and Provincial Building Society Staff
    Association (NAPSA) and the Banking, Insurance and Finance Union (BIFU). The
    National and Provincial Building Society was recently taken over by the Abbey
    National, but NAPSA members voted to become part of BIFU rather than the
    Abbey National's own staff association. Despite the strong support for BIFU
    from NAPSA members, the company has refused to recognise the union. BIFU said
    that "in the merger and conversion mania which is sweeping this country there
    is little regard for the impact on staff. They are the casualties - that's
    why it is important for unions to work together". BIFU, which has 115,000
    members, hope that this will be the first of many mergers which will ensure
    it a stronger role in the financial sector.

  • Article
    27 Mai 1997

    The first annual review of the social dialogue process at the European Union
    level was adopted by the Commission on 6 May 1997. The review characterises
    1996 as "a particularly fruitful and productive year" for the social dialogue
    at European level. Despite this overall positive assessment, the review
    highlights the fact that, despite endeavours towards the establishment of a
    dialogue between the social partners, and in some cases, negotiation, this
    represents only the background of a European-scale industrial relations
    systems which is yet to take shape.

  • Article
    27 Mai 1997

    One of the most significant transformations of British industrial relations
    in recent years has been the shift from national to enterprise-level
    bargaining. Multi-employer bargaining arrangements have tended to be replaced
    with multi-establishment, single employer bargaining, although there are also
    signs of decentralisation within the individual firm. Similarly, within the
    public sector (UK9702104F [1]), efforts have been made to fragment
    traditional bargaining arrangements through the introduction of "Agency"
    status and market-testing to the civil service and local authorities, and by
    further institutional decentralisation through the promotion of National
    Health Service (NHS) Trusts and local management of schools. These changes
    have occurred alongside a dramatic decline in coverage of collective
    bargaining, largely due to the decline of manufacturing employment and the
    expansion of the service sector.

    [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/public-sector-pay-policies

  • Article
    27 Mai 1997

    The publication of an assessment commissioned by the National Assembly's
    Finance Commission, and the campaign for the May/June 1997 general election,
    have reopened the debate in France on the content and efficiency of the
    Robien law, which seeks to encourage working time reductions and
    reorganisation to create or save jobs. Politicians, economists, employers and
    unions remain divided whilst the number of collective agreements at company
    level based on the law is increasing.

  • Article
    27 Mai 1997

    Non-wage labour costs are those categories of the enterprise's total labour
    costs comprising other than direct compensation. Today, non-wage labour costs
    account for a very substantial and rising proportion of total labour costs.
    Since increasing labour costs tend to encourage substitution away from labour
    to more capital-intensive methods of production, rising non-wage labour costs
    are an impediment to job creation. Furthermore, some non-wage labour costs -
    such as social security contributions - drive a wedge between the labour
    costs that companies pay and the money that workers receive, thus making
    collective bargaining more difficult. Via unit labour costs - nominal labour
    costs divided by real value added - non-wage labour costs are likely to have
    some effect on companies' location decisions.

Series

  • European Restructuring Monitor

    The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) has reported on the employment impact of large-scale business restructuring since 2002. This publication series include the ERM reports, as well as blogs, articles and working papers on restructuring-related events in the EU27 and Norway.

  • European Working Conditions Telephone Survey 2021

    Eurofound’s European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) paints a wide-ranging picture of Europe at work across countries, occupations, sectors and age groups. This series consists of findings from the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) 2021, an extraordinary edition conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was first carried out in 1990.

  • Developments in working life, industrial relations and working conditions in the EU

    This publication series gathers all overview reports on developments in working life, annual reviews in industrial relations and working conditions produced by Eurofound on the basis of national contributions from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents (NEC). Since 1997, these reports have provided overviews of the latest developments in industrial relations and working conditions across the EU and Norway. The series may include recent ad hoc articles written by members of the NEC.

  • COVID-19

    Eurofound’s work on COVID-19 examines the far-reaching socioeconomic implications of the pandemic across Europe as they continue to impact living and working conditions. A key element of the research is the e-survey, launched in April 2020, with five rounds completed at different stages during 2020, 2021 and 2022. This is complemented by the inclusion of research into the ongoing effects of the pandemic in much of Eurofound’s other areas of work.

  • Sectoral social dialogue

    Eurofound's representativeness studies are designed to allow the European Commission to identify the ‘management and labour’ whom it must consult under article 154 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). This series consists of studies of the representativeness of employer and worker organisations in various sectors.

  • Minimum wages in the EU

    This series reports on developments in minimum wage rates across the EU, including how they are set and how they have developed over time in nominal and real terms. The series explores where there are statutory minimum wages or collectively agreed minimum wages in the Member States, as well as minimum wage coverage rates by gender.  

  • European Working Conditions Surveys

    The European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) launched in 1990 and is carried out every five years, with the latest edition in 2015. It provides an overview of trends in working conditions and quality of employment for the last 30 years. It covers issues such as employment status, working time duration and organisation, work organisation, learning and training, physical and psychosocial risk factors, health and safety, work–life balance, worker participation, earnings and financial security, work and health, and most recently also the future of work.

  • Challenges and prospects in the EU

    Eurofound’s Flagship report series 'Challenges and prospects in the EU' comprise research reports that contain the key results of multiannual research activities and incorporate findings from different related research projects. Flagship reports are the major output of each of Eurofound’s strategic areas of intervention and have as their objective to contribute to current policy debates.

  • European Company Survey 2019

    Eurofound’s European Company Survey (ECS) maps and analyses company policies and practices which can have an impact on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as the development of social dialogue in companies. This series consists of outputs from the ECS 2019, the fourth edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2004–2005 as the European Survey on Working Time and Work-Life Balance. 

  • National social partners and policymaking

    This series reports on and updates latest information on the involvement of national social partners in policymaking. The series analyses the involvement of national social partners in the implementation of policy reforms within the framework of social dialogue practices, including their involvement in elaborating the National Reform Programmes (NRPs).

Forthcoming publications